Iran has warned European Union states of “dire consequences”

Mr. Obama signed the bill at the White House, his press secretary said in a statement on Wednesday.

The new Congressional measures, passed last week, aim to choke off Iran’s access to imports of refined petroleum products like gasoline and jet fuel and curb its access to the international banking system.

Iran has warned European Union states of “dire consequences” because of their decision to impose tighter sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.

“Undoubtedly, such a confrontational approach may leave dire consequences in the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a letter to EU foreign ministers obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

The EU’s decision “will definitely cause far greater losses for the European Union itself rather than for the Islamic Republic of Iran as this is amply demonstrated in all previous statistics,” said the letter, which was received on Tuesday.

“Your government’s illogical and ill-intended measure in (supporting) the illegal and unfair resolution … is a matter of deep regret and embarrassment,” Mottaki wrote.

“There is no doubt that this measure against the Iranian nation will be recorded as a dark spot in the history of the bilateral relations,” said the letter.

“Let us hope that the European Union will not succumb to U.S. pressures to march on a wrong path that will only produce everlasting shame before the free-minded nations of the world,” Mottaki said.

On the other hand in Vienna, Heinonen, 63, is head of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safeguards department, tasked with verifying nations’ nuclear programs are not being diverted for military use.

“We confirm that Mr. Heinonen informed the director general of his intention to resign as of the end of August for personal reasons,” IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said.

Heinonen, a Finnish radio chemist, is probably best known for causing a stir in February 2008 with a power-point presentation given to diplomats who indicated links in Iran between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.